Curriculum Vitae - Vincent Dirks
Intro Vincent Dirks - Software Quality Engineer
As a versatile Software Quality Engineer, I aim to understand the nuances of the product, team dynamics, technological landscapes, and organizational structures so that I can adapt and contribute effectively. I specialize in adapting to diverse contexts, and look beyond traditional testing methodologies to consider the design of the whole quality ecosystem necessary for delivering quality software solutions efficiently.
Skills
Testing
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Programming and Automation
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General
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Work Experience
I am taking a break from work to give myself some time for self-care after some difficult periods over the last couple of years.
Water Services Reform, Dept of Internal Affairs (NZ Govt) - Senior Test Automation Engineer (Nov-2023 - Jan-2024)
- Contracting through TTC Global. Part of the Test Automation team for the Three Waters Project, developing a UI Automation suite in Java using the Tidal. wave Selenium automation library
Westpac NZ - Senior Automation Quality Engineer (Apr-2021 - Nov-2023)
- Served as a Roving Automation Quality Engineer, bridging testing and automation gaps across multiple teams. Tested and automated mobile apps (Appium & XCUITest), a D365 web UI (Java, Selenium, POM's), and various APIs (Java, REST Assured). Also undertook a secondment as a platform engineer supporting Splunk, and later developed a ReactJS web app for viewing the test environments and interconnections.
FirstAML - Test Analyst (Oct-2020 - Mar-2021)
- Served as a quality coach for a startup company developing a ReactJS Web App for the AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism) industry.
Weather Radar NZ limited - Weather Radar Systems Engineer (Jun-2020 - Oct-2020)
- Contracting 4 days/week. Helping modify legacy weather radars with some embedded Arduino micro controllers. Designing new electronics, PCB's, maintaining power waveguide systems, and performing signal analysis.
Grappler- Agile Quality Analyst (Jun-2020 - Oct-2020)
- Contracting 1 day/week. Developed a small solution to run a Postman collection in Google Cloud Platform and a simple Web UI (Node.js, Express.js) to trigger test runs and display HTML test reports.
Fiserv Auckland - Intermediate Software Test Engineer (Jan-2017 - Apr-2020)
- Native Mobile App functional and accessibility testing. API testing and automation. Using Postman/Newman, Specflow with C#, Javascript(Postman/Node.js/Express.js), Splunk for dashboards, TFS & Powershell for System deployment automation. Created a Postman Testrunner Framework for automated API integration checks and environment health monitoring.
Engel Consulting - Contracting (Sep 2016 - Dec 2016)
Trade Me - Senior Software Test Analyst (Dec-2014 - Aug-2016)
- Part of a small squad at Trade Me, I conducted context-driven exploratory testing for software changes to the iconic website. My responsibilities included testing DBs, UIs, APIs, and mobile apps, leading deployments, conducting test planning and peer reviews, utilizing BDD and visual test tools. I gained experience with implementing agile methods, Splunk, ReadyAPI, XMind, Jira, and Confluence. I also enjoyed onboarding new staff and contributing to the test and agile guilds.
Pre-2014 Roles
- Logistics Manager, Caregiver, Software Engineer, Development & Support Engineer, Production Scheduler, Physics Tutor
Related wiki pages
References
- TTC, Westpac , Fiserv , Trade Me Motors
Volunteering
- Laingholm & Districts Community Association, Ministry of Testing, Eastern Suburbs AFC, Glendowie Boating Club, MOTAT, Eastern Suburbs Montessori Primary School
Professional Development
- Conferences, workshops, meetups etc.
Education
- University of Auckland: ME(Elec)
Presentations, Posts, and blogs
What I'm reading, watching, listening, learning, and trying out in 2024
Test Community Events
- Registered to go to the NZTestingConf 2024 in Wellington to listen to
- Shay Naiki, QA Manager @ Alphero: Creating a collaborative culture in the testing world: lessons from life in a digital agency
- Nevetha Mani, Product Human @ Hectre: Off the beaten path: rethinking quality in the startup world
- Emma Procter & Jonathan Shirley, @ PikPok: Finding the fun: researching and playtesting games at PikPok
- Patricio Miner, Content Creator @ Free Range Testers: ETL: the testing niche you've never thought of
- Toby Martin, QA Practice Lead @ Pushpay: Stop automating, start investigating: a guide to slowing down to speed up
- Ryan Bevens, QA Community Manager @ Potentia: Diary of a reluctant recruiter: your value as a tester
- == Watch this space for conference notes ==
Interesting Reads
- A Context Driven Approach to Automation in Testing By James Bach and Michael Bolton
- Quote: "dynamically evaluating context and selecting, designing, or adjusting our actions to solve the problems that we encounter."
- Round Earth Test Strategy by James Bach
- Interesting alternative to the "Test Automation Pyramid".
- Quote: There are testing problems to consider at every level, "Quality above requires quality below".
My Observability Project
- Express.js basic hello world and my node.js-in-the-cloud repo
- Kubernetes vs. Docker by Josh Campbell at Atlassian
- I want to learn the difference between these technologies to see how it might apply to my Observability Project
- Setting up Docker Desktop at home to run the Docker Splunk Image
Archive
- Old pre-2024 entries
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